Resistance is Futile
by MargyW
Summary: When a military experiment goes horribly wrong, the team find that sometimes truth is more terrible than fiction. Set early in season 10. Rated T for safety's sake. Probably not necessary but...


Dr Richard Mitchell drove up to the facility promptly at 5.00am, as was his usual practice. He liked to be there and working before the guard changed over at 7.00am. As per normal, all was quiet. The cars of the overnight personnel were all parked in their usual places. Dr Mitchell noticed that the car belonging to his assistant, in charge of monitoring the subject over night, was missing. Annoyance flitted across Mitchell's face. If Conrad had gone home sick, he should have been informed.

Mitchell's footsteps slowed as he approached the building. Where were the guards? There should be two guards at the door. Using his security swipe card, and supplementary code, he opened the door. All was quiet and still. Too quiet and too still. Dr Mitchell headed into the main reception area. He stopped and stared in horror. Thirty seconds later he hit the panic button.

Leon Vance stared at his top team across his desk. He had summoned them to his office as soon as he'd received the call from SecNav. "Over night there has been an incident at a top secret military research facility. There are six people dead and the test subject is missing. SecNav wants you to handle it. The guards were Marines and the facility is, at least nominally, a Naval one. That gives us jurisdiction. The scientist in charge isn't happy about you coming in. We can't seem to get him to understand that dead people are important."

"Who's in charge?" Gibbs asked quietly.

"Dr Richard Mitchell."

Tim gasped. Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "You know him, McGee?"

"Know of him, Boss. He's considered one of the greatest scientific minds since Dr Michio Kaku."

Gibbs looked blank.

"Ummm. Dr Werner Von Braun?" Still the blank look.

"Albert Einstein?" This time Gibbs' lip twitched.

Tim didn't know if Gibbs really didn't know who these people were or just liked to play dumb. He suspected the latter.

Vance allowed the by play to sail past him. He consulted his notes. "You'll need to report directly to Dr Mitchell at the Fully Integrated Military Personnel Project, the details are here." Vance handed his notes to Gibbs.

DiNozzo was fighting his amusement. "FIMPP?"

Vance glared at him. "The military doesn't come up with catchy acronyms to amuse you, Agent DiNozzo."

Gibbs gestured for his team to leave the office. As Tony passed him, he whacked the back of his head. "Thanks, Boss."

As the door closed on the team, Vance said quietly, "This is a sticky one, Gibbs. They were doing experiments on soldiers. Some sort of cybernetic enhancement, my sources tell me. No details. It was so top secret that some people just wanted these deaths swept under the carpet. But it can't be done. We have a man on the loose that appears to have killed six people with his bare hands, and we don't know what he is capable of. If the media get hold of it…"

Gibbs nodded. "We'll do our best, Leon."

"I know you will, Gibbs. I'm just not sure our best will be enough."

Tony was finding interviewing Dr Mitchell to be very trying. The man was precise in his manner, somewhat fussy, and as irritating as hell. His large intelligent eyes peered at Tony from behind wire rimmed spectacles. The glint in his eyes gave him the look of a mad scientist. Which was appropriate. Because that's exactly what he was.

"I came in at 5am, as usual. I noticed Conrad's car wasn't in the lot…"

"Conrad?"

"My over night assistant."

"Which one is Conrad?"

Mitchell gestured feebly at a corpse draped over a laptop on a desk to his right. "That's him there."

Ducky and Jimmy were about to start examining the corpse. Tony called across, "Palmer, can you check his pockets for keys?" Palmer did a rummage then straightened up. "No keys, Tony."

"Boss…"

Gibbs came across. "Got something DiNozzo?"

Tony pointed at the deceased assistant. "Dr Mitchell says that man's car is missing. His car keys are not in his pockets."

"Get a BOLO out." Gibbs headed over to Ducky. "Well, Duck?"

"Every single one of these unfortunates died from a broken neck. I won't be able to tell until I autopsy, but it appears to be by the standard Marine hold and twist."

Gibbs looked thoughtfully at Dr Mitchell. "I think we need to know a little bit more about this project of his." He really didn't like this fussy little man. To use Abby's favorite word, the man was hinky.

Dr Mitchell glared at Gibbs across the interrogation room table. "This is insufferable, Agent Gibbs. I need to be at my work." He started to rise from his seat.

"Sit your ass down!" Gibbs roared at him. "I'll tell you what is insufferable, Doctor. Six people dead. One man on the loose who appears to have done the killings, and I am being stonewalled by you."

"The project is top secret…."

"Not any more it's not," Vance told him. "Do you imagine for one moment that the government will let this project continue when news of the killings gets out?"

"It won't get out. My project and I are protected."

"You were protected," Vance told him, "SecNav, along with all the others that approved the project, are prepared to throw you to the wolves."

Mitchell stared aghast at the two men. "No," he whispered. "They won't do that!"

"You a betting man, doc?" Gibbs asked with a smirk.

Trembling, Mitchell sank back down into his seat and dropped his head into his hands. "So much hard work. Ruined. Ruined!" He bit back a sob. "Do you know what this project has cost in time and money?"

"More interested in the lives it has cost, doc." Gibbs' tone was flat.

Mitchell looked up and him, and then across at Vance. Both men's faces were closed off and cold. He swallowed.

"We'll find out in the end," Vance told him. "Agent McGee is going through your computers."

"What? NO! That data is sensitive. I don't want some clod hopping federal agent…"

"What you want is immaterial." Vance's voice was as cold as ice. "Agent McGee will find both the project's specifications and any clues to what happened that are in your system. I want you to cut the crap and tell me exactly what the project entailed."

"You can't treat me like this," Mitchell yelped.

"Can we treat him like this, Agent Gibbs?"

"You're the director of NCIS, you tell me, Leon."

"I think under the circumstances we can treat him any damn way we like!"

"Works for me."

"So glad we agree."

They looked at the figure cowering on the other side of the table. Mitchell made a sound somewhere between a hiccup and a sob. He removed his glasses and rubbed at his face briefly, before replacing the specs. He blinked owlishly at the two men staring at him with stony countenances. Mitchell sighed.

"The purpose of the project was to create the perfect soldier."

Vance groaned. "Can't they come up with something original? Didn't they learn anything after the P2P Killer debacle?"

"Our project was not connected with the CIA endorsed one. The Fully Integrated Military Personnel Project was just that. A project to create a soldier who didn't need highly technical equipment. He would BE the equipment."

"Bio-cybernetics," Vance said quietly.

"Exactly."

"In English?" Gibbs asked.

"Integration of man with machine, Agent Gibbs. In this case, integration of man with computer. We felt there was no need for the heavily augmented cyborg of science fiction. A computer chip inserted into the human brain to speed up the natural processes, allowing faster data processing times, faster reactions, and so on, would be more effective than grafting a machine gun into a man's arm."

"Where did you get them?"

"Excuse me?"

"The men you were experimenting on."

"Well, technically, they were dead."

"What?"

"Officially, they are fully documented, dead soldiers, but actually not so dead." Mitchell looked at the two blank faces before him and sighed.

"Volunteers were sought from within the Corps. In exchange for giving up their lives, their dependents would be fully paid their entitlements and they would be declared dead on active service, or base accident, whichever was most appropriate. Then they came to us for the surgery to implant the computer chips. We use one volunteer at a time. It's too hard to monitor more than that correctly, and eventually the subject dies anyway, from complications from the chip insertion. But this one. This one was a true prototype. We were so, so close…"

Gibbs and Vance got to their feet and gave Mitchell identical looks of pure disgust. They strode out of interrogation. Vance barked at the agent outside the door. "Dorneget, if Dr Mitchell attempts to leave the room, shoot him!"  
As they walked down the corridor, Gibbs gave Vance an amused looked. "You sure about that order, Leon?"

Vance shrugged. "Dorneget isn't carrying his weapon. Besides, it had the desired effect."

Gibbs raised his eyebrows inquiringly.

"It scared that irritating little prat witless."

Gibbs couldn't suppress a grin as they strode towards the squad room.

Tony and Ziva intercepted them as they passed through the squad room. "We've got an odd one. Conrad Sandford's car has been discovered and fingerprinted. We ran the prints and…"

"They belong to a dead man."

Tony stared at Vance, his mind boggling. "Uh. Yeah. US Marine Cpl Simon Hughes. The car was found a block from his widow's house."

Ziva added, "The local police have a record of Mrs Hughes calling them at 2am this morning claiming that her deceased husband was staring in the window at her. A patrol was sent, but no trace of an intruder found."

Gibbs held out his hand. "Address."

Tony put the paper in his hand. Gibbs and Vance headed for the elevator.

Tony looked at Ziva. Ziva shrugged. "I do not know. This is a weird one."

"Oh yeah, anyone would think it's Halloween."

As the elevator descended, Gibbs' phone rang. "Boss, I need to see you."

"Where are you, McGee?"

"Abby's lab."

"Be right there."

McGee looked around as Gibbs and Vance entered the lab. "We've found something, Boss. Ummm, Bosses."

"What is it, McGee."

"Has Dr Mitchell told you anything about the project?"

"Enough to know we don't like it."

"The whole thing is a disaster area."

"Explain."

"The entire project was being run from one laptop. The one we found beneath the corpse of Conrad Sandford. The project data and logs were encrypted, but Abby and I have managed to crack them, and looking at the logs we can tell you exactly what happened last night."

"What happened?"

"Frankenstein's monster got hacked!"

Vance and Gibbs looked at Abby. Tim winced. "Basically, yes. Someone hacked through the security protocols and downloaded instructions directly into Subject 2450 aka Cpl Simon Hughes' brain. Sandford was trying to override the hackers and reassert control when Hughes broke free. The laptop's webcam caught most of it. It's not pretty. Internal security was lax. The guards had left their guns in the guard room and were watching television."

"Nothing ever happened before," Vance said softly.

"So they thought nothing ever would," Gibbs finished.

There was silence for a moment as they watched the footage from the webcam.

"Boss, we tracked the hackers to a local address."

"Get Tony. Go interview them. Bring them in if you feel it's necessary."

Tim hurried from the room. Vance looked at the laptop. He sighed. "Come on Leon, we need to talk to a widow," Gibbs said quietly. Both men left the room. Slowly, sadly, Abby closed the laptop.

Gibbs and Vance perched uneasily on the edge of chintzy floral sofa, bone china tea cups in hand.

Jenny Hughes looked at them both, sad eyed, "The local police think I'm crazy. That grief from Simon's death made me see things."

Vance shook his head. "We don't think you were seeing things, Mrs Hughes. Your husband volunteered for a…secret mission. One he knew he wouldn't come back from, so he was declared officially dead by the government and you were paid all entitlements, plus a little extra."

The woman stared, wide eyed, at Vance. "But he's survived? Is that what you are saying? That my husband isn't dead?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Oh my God! Why didn't he come inside? Why didn't he come to me?"

"I think he wanted to see you, one last time," Gibbs said softly.

"His mission isn't complete?"

"No, Ma'am," Vance said gently, "We don't think it is."

Vance and Gibbs put their cups down gently on the table and took their leave. Outside, Vance drew in a deep breath. "How could anyone do that, Gibbs? Sign their life away for money."

Gibbs shook his head. "I don't know, Leon."

Vance sighed. "I hope McGee and DiNozzo are having better success than we are."

Two terrified teenagers stared at Tony and McGee. The fourteen year old twins cowered on the sofa, their father standing cold eyed behind them.

"Agent McGee, Agent DiNozzo, I apologize for my sons. I was not aware that they were hacking. And I assure you they will be punished for it."

"It isn't just that, Mr Carlson." McGee looked at the boys. "Last night you hacked a computer codenamed FIMPP."

"Yeah. A game site. Crazy idea. Controlling a man through a computer chip in his brain."

The other giggled nervously. "It was cool. Override the game settings and have him kill people."

Tim's voice was cold. "It wasn't a game site. And it wasn't a game. What you hacked into was a top secret government facility. Your hacking caused a man to go berserk. He killed six people and is loose somewhere in the area. He may kill again."

"How does it feel," Tony asked, "to have created a serial killer?" His eyes were cold and dark. The smile that twisted his lips had no humor in it. "Shall we play a game?"

The eyes of the two boys grew round with horror. "We didn't know. We wouldn't have…" The younger of the two began to cry as the enormity of their actions began to sink in. Their father closed his eyes, rocking on his heels.

The elder boy sat with tears rolling down his face. "He won't kill again." His voice was barely a whisper. "The last orders we gave were to initiate self destruct…"

Tim and Tony exchanged looks of horror, then bolted from the room. Carlson called after them, "My sons. What will you do with my sons?"

"We'll get back to you on that," Tony called over his shoulder. "But don't let them leave town."

The man sagged against the doorway as he watched the car screech away from the curb, the heartbroken sobs of his sons ringing in his ears.

Vance sat at his desk. He looked up at Gibbs standing on the other side of the desk. "They found him?"

Gibbs nodded. "Hanged himself from a tree in the park near his former home. Used his belt."

"Someone will need to tell his wife. Widow."

"One of the chaplains is already there."

"The project is dead in the water." Vance's lips twisted into what could have been a smile, "No pun intended. Those at the top of the tree have pulled the pin. All computers and paperwork associated with the project have already been destroyed. The facility itself will be bulldozed. Dr Mitchell has been hidden away. There is no way they can risk him blabbing to the media. He appears to have gone insane."

Gibbs' lips twitched. "Well, he did bite Dorneget."

"How is Dorneget?"

"Ducky cleaned the wound and bandaged his hand. Gave him a precautionary tetanus shot."

Vance smiled briefly. The smile faded. "What do we do with those boys?"

"Ducky thinks they'll need counseling."

"He's probably right."

"McGee tells me that their father called him. Both of their laptops have been destroyed. With a hammer."

"We can't prosecute them for anything, of course."

"Not really necessary, Leon. McGee also tells me he thinks they've learned their lesson."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. In the woodshed. At the end of a belt."

Vance winced. "A bit old fashioned."

"Yeah. But under the circumstances..."

Vance sighed and got to his feet. He snagged his jacket from the coat stand and headed for the door. Gibbs raised his eyebrows. Vance looked at him. "Under the circumstances, I think I want to go home and hug my wife and my kids."

Gibbs nodded and watched him go. Then he slowly followed him down the stairs. To the squad room. To his family.


End file.
